The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) repeatedly fined four companies from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan for unfair competition. Press service of the EEC reported.

New fines totaling about 3 million Russian rubles will have to be paid to the budgets of their countries by the professional organization of accountants Chamber of Professional Accountants of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Eurasian Institute of Certified Public Accountants Limited Liability Partnership (Kazakhstan), Institute of Professional Accountants and Auditors of Kyrgyzstan Public Association and SIPAEN institution (Kyrgyzstan).

They have been already fined for unfair competition in the cross-border market for certification of public accountants in January 2023.

The basis for the new investigation was the appeal to the EEC of a number of business entities from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan about the misconduct of competitors. When considering the case, it was established that the companies posted on the website www.cipaprogram.org in their own register of certificates information about certificates issued by other organizations, including by the applicants. It was also reported there that the validity of some certificates was suspended or canceled, and their activation/reissue requires joining one of these organizations.

Other inaccurate information was also found. For example, the issue date of some certificates was 1900.

«The companies have committed violations of paragraph 2 of Article 76 of the Treaty on the EAEU. This is unfair competition. I note that the largest number of applications that are received by the EEC on the facts of anti-competitive behavior are related to this particular violation. For example, in 2022, out of 26 applications considered by the commission, 15 were related to unfair competition,» Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister in charge of Competition and Antimonopoly Regulation of the EEC, commented on the decision.

Source: 24.kg News Agency